One month from today, Everett Steele of the Maine Veterans Home in Bangor will lead a very special celebration.

The 10th anniversary Maine Troop Greeters Reunion is planned for 4-8 p.m. Wednesday, March 7, at Bangor International Airport.

Eastern Mainers put Bangor in the national spotlight back in March 1991 when they began turning out in droves to welcome back American troops who had participated in Operation Desert Storm.

The general public – but most especially those faithful volunteers who dropped everything to rush to the airport to greet a plane any time of the day or night – are cordially invited to attend the reunion.

It is expected that memorabilia of that time will be available, videos will be shown, and refreshments will be served.

However, to provide all that, reunion committee members are seeking financial donations to help cover the expenses.

Nancy Bond of East Corinth, who greeted more that 200 flights of returning American troops during that time, is a member of the committee planning the reunion.

She said the committee has “established a savings account at Bangor Savings Bank,” to help with reunion costs.

“We’re looking for cash donations,” Bond said.

“We have a room set aside at the airport for the reunion; we’ve contacted members of our congressional delegation; and we’re looking for support” from local businesses to help provide refreshments.

Donations can be made, in person, at any BSB office, or by mailing them to “Maine Troop Greeters” in care of Bangor Savings Bank, P.O. Box 930, Bangor 04402-0930.

The troop greeters have not been forgotten by those who passed through our airport a decade ago.

Our colleague, editorial page assistant Dick Shaw, is a member of the reunion committee.

He told us he recently received a phone call from a serviceman in Pennsylvania who fondly recalled that special time, and, on Monday, the Bangor Daily News received this letter from Air Force Staff Sgt. Mark Dutton of Crestview, Fla., which we are proud to pass along to you.

“Ten years ago, I was returning home after the end of Operation Desert Storm,” Dutton wrote.

“I had been away from my family for over four months, and was really looking forward to seeing them again. I had been living in a tent in the deserts of Saudi Arabia for those long months.”

So, when Dutton learned there would be three- to four-hour layover in Bangor, Maine, “I was a little upset,” he admitted.

But then something happened to change all that.

“As I walked into the airport terminal, I was in for the shock of my life!” Dutton recalled in his letter.

“The whole terminal was full of people welcoming us home from the war.

“I was so overwhelmed with the love that these wonderful people were showing for us that tears were pouring down my face.

“I have been all over the world during my career in the Air Force,” he continued, “and have never met a more wonderful group of people in my entire life.

“I tried my best to say thank you to every person in the airport that day.

“I am sure that I missed talking to some of them.”

Dutton then requested we publish his letter “so that I can tell everyone in the great state of Maine that I thank them from the bottom of my heart for their love and kindness.

“I will remember that special day for the rest of my life!”

You can help support the work of the Maine Affiliate of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation while shopping for a Valentine’s gift for a loved one.

Members of the Maine Affiliate of the Komen Foundation will be selling its limited edition, fifth anniversary, Maine Affiliate pin – designed by its president, Bonnie Lee Tucker of Hampden – and other foundation pins, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 10, at the JC Penney entrance in the Bangor Mall.

Tucker said the sale is being held courtesy of JC Penney manager JB Klecha III, who also serves as a Komen Maine Affiliate board member.

For more information about the Komen Maine Affiliate and its work, call Mary Brooks, 223-5041, or e-mail her at joeb@prexar.com.

Heather McGlauflin-Humbert of Corinna was one of the accident victims involved in the 50-plus car pileup on Interstate 95 in Hampden last month.

She has written the NEWS to express her “special thanks for all of the help, cooperation, assistance and hugs given by all of the motorists involved in the accident, and to the wonderful man (whose name I still don’t know) who helped me out of my truck and away from the oncoming cars.”

“I owe you my life,” she wrote of that unknown good Samaritan.

“My family, friends and I will pray for you every night.”

And, as one who experienced, firsthand “the cooperation and caring” exhibited by all the emergency service personnel that day, she wrote, “how calming it was for me, as a former Marine Corps aircraft firefighter, to witness the high level of professionalism of our own, local EMS.”

Joni Averill, Bangor Daily News, P.O. Box 1329, Bangor 04402; 990-8288.